Quick Reviews Camcorder : Sony DCR-TRV480

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Sony has not thrown the R&D Dept. into overdrive trying to improve their Digital8 line. Imager specs have remained largely unchanged in the past few years: a 1/6” CCD with 290K effective pixels. There was a point, even recently, when Digital8 could compete with MiniDV in terms of image quality – no more. In bright light conditions, the colors on the DCR-TRV480 were fairly washed. The lack of manual white balance, a feature included on all but the bottom of the barrel camcorders, curbs the hope of ever getting a decent grayscale.

Automatic control on the DCR-TRV480 is generally good and is a category in which Sony generally exceeds. Automatic controls are particularly useful when the product in question has virtually no manual controls. Pressing the Easy button activates the Easy HandyCam mode, which shifts all image quality decisions to the camcorder. For those willing to dip their toe in the waters of manual control, there are Spot Metering and Spot Focus options. These features make use of the touch screen LCD to point out where in the frame you would like to adjust the exposure and lighting. It’s a useful tool that Sony has included on most of their camcorders this year.

Manual control options are like my chances at the blackjack table – slim, slim, slim. No shutter speed control and, quite amazingly, no white balance. Manual focus and exposure are available, but there is no numerical system for the focus. You must rely on your eyes and the LCD screen. Auto Exposure (AE) settings are available in Spotlight, Portrait, Sports, Beach & Ski, Sunset & Moon, and Landscape. The zoom control is surprisingly functional – a raised toggle switch with easy grip and a smooth back and forth motion.

If you have no ambitions beyond pointing and shooting, the DCR-TRV480 might suit you fine. Otherwise, the touch screen menu could raise some blood pressures, with the requisite endless scrolling. Digital8 camcorders tend to be quite bulky, and the TRV480 is easily twice the size of many MiniDV and DVD camcorders. This equates to tired arms for the user planning on standing and shooting for long periods. For editing and viewing purposes, ports include DV, A/V, and USB, as well as the MemoryStick Duo for stills.

Still features are far superior to the DCR-TRV280 by virtue of the dedicated MemoryStick Duo capturing medium. As with the TRV280, stills can only be taken in 640 x 480, but the TRV480 offers two still modes: Frame and Field. Frame is used for stationary subjects, while the Field setting is intended to capture moving subjects.

A widescreen mode and 20x zoom are not enough to garner a recommendation over MiniDV camcorders. Prices have dropped considerably in the MiniDV market, so that comparatively-priced models outshine the DCR-TRV480 with acumen. Unless editing those old Hi8 tapes is a priority, my advice is to take your footage to local photo mart and have them slap it onto a DVD. Then jump on board the 21st Century Train with the rest of us and investigate this new MiniDV phenomenon everyone is talking about.

Sony DCR-TRV480 Compared to the...